Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2022

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” These decisive moments, and how to respond, are outlined in Robert H. Build a relationship and trust quickly.

Customer

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2020

As an advisor to entrepreneurs, I find that I often have to remind them that the world of customers has changed since they started their last business. Pushing yourself on customers by touting features and price doesn’t work anymore. Use analytics to see why customers are buying, as well as what.

Customer

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” These decisive moments, and how to respond, are outlined in Robert H. Build a relationship and trust quickly.

Customer

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2022

I’m sure you have all noticed how today’s customers have changed the way they shop, but I still find, as an advisor and consultant, that many of you aren’t sure how to deal with the new mode, or are still waiting for things to get back to the old normal. Convenience is in the eye of the customer, not your company.

Demand

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2022

Many entrepreneurs think that adapting to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, are the key to attracting new customers. High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business. Solis outlines the heuristics of social psychology that are key to building positive customer experiences today.

Customer

socalTECH

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Santa Monica-based Invoca , which provides call tracking and analytics software, says a new study it ran shows that website experience and customer experience has become much more important in the era of COVID-19, particularly in big ticket purchases. READ MORE>>.

Customer

TechEmpower

MARCH 4, 2024

Key Functions with High Impact Generative AI is revolutionizing sales by enabling dynamic pricing and personalized customer interactions, boosting conversion rates and customer satisfaction. Post-sale, AI analyzes customer data to improve service and loyalty, making it a cornerstone of modern sales methodologies.

Generative AI

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. A few companies are leading the way, including Apple with their iPad and iPhone, offering irresistible stores with friendly experts, elegant packaging, and customer service that never ends. Experience using the product is only one stage.

Design

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2023

Businesses see this as the Holy Grail for finally being able to predict who, where, and when customers will buy their existing solutions, and what their future solutions must look like to be attractive. I found some help in this regard from a classic book, “ Humanizing Big Data ,” by leading consumer researcher Colin Strong.

Custom

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2010

I see way too many startup founders who don’t have experience in selling and probably don’t feel that comfortable going to customers and asking for orders. Spending time selling to customers is the best way to find out what their problems are and how good your solution currently is at mapping to their needs.

Sales

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2015

We never built our product on one partner’s data platform but on many (20 primary data sources plus 100+ smaller ones) and Twitter’s move doesn’t “shut down DataSift” it simply takes 1,000+ customers who consume Twitter data through DataSift and makes their life more difficult. Just how much?

Platform

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

Proof of any business model starts with a finished product or solution, sold to a new customer for full price, with high satisfaction for the value received. Customer support is more than handling exceptions. Your challenge is to present a total business solution to the right customer set to build your credibility and momentum.

Customer

Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 6, 2014

Creating a gerat company in a relative vacuum is an exercise in complete trust that the entrepreneur knows what’s best for the customer, perhaps even without interaction with such a customer. The first step : Involve potential customers early. The third step: Reiterate and return to customers for comments.

Company

Berkonomics

MAY 30, 2019

And the best way to do this is with the placement of a case study, a story told about and by a satisfied customer with something to say about how your product solved their problem or pain. But it must be told about and by the customer, with your product as the tool of solution, not the focus of the story.

Case Study

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

As a business consultant and angel investor, I often ask for your own assessment of marketing ROI , or customer acquisition cost (CAC). Leaders and investors need to know if you have and are tapping into your key sources of relevant data, including web analytics, sales management data, and customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Customer

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

But the no-longer nascent sneaker and streetwear market is a big market, with the potential to reach $30 billion in sales globally by 2030, according to a recent report by the research firm, Cowen ( cited by The Wall Street Journal , which first reported the financing). ” Money, it’s gotta be the shoes.

Commerce

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 27, 2013

I mostly like to have coverage in the tech press where most of my customers (entrepreneurs) and business partners (other VCs) are. But I also need to address the other side of my customer base – the people who fund VCs (they are called LPs). It is every journalists starting point for researching a story. Kind of obvious.

Blogging

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2014

What about opposition research on journalists? Clearly the press don’t want to have rich, powerful companies researching their private lives. I doubt they have a customer problem. They want our customer records. Was it dumb and insensitive to say Uber might target journalists for opposition research?

Press

Berkonomics

JULY 6, 2017

Well, here is one of those, and it deals with market research first and foremost. Here’s where some intelligent market research might have saved the company and my investment. That response is quite different than one where competitors have paved the way and existing customers prove through use that the product or service is valued.

Competition

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Founded four years ago by Matt Danna and Sean Stavropoulos, Boulevard was inspired by Stavropoulos’ inability to book a haircut and Danna’s hunch that the inability of salons and spas to cater to customers like the busy programmer could be indicative of a bigger problem.

Software

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 19, 2018

With lead investors like Fika Ventures and Fathom Capital, and co-investors, including Toyota AI Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, Riot.vc, Osage University Partners and Stage Venture Partners, Elementary Robotics is readying itself for commercial pilots with a few undisclosed customers as it proves out its technology.

Los Angeles

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology. This early stage is often called basic research , well before any specific commercially viable products might be envisioned. Technology pilots. Expanding the product line.

Help

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

We spoke with one of those companies-- El Segundo-based ConsumerTrack (www.consumertrack.com)--which is a $30M, bootstrapped an online marketing company which is driving millions of customers to big name, financial customers. What is ConsumerTrack all about? Brett Rossman: ConsumerTrack is a performance-based, online marketing company.

Startup

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 20, 2014

An estimate of the number of customers, of the amount of traffic to your website, of the numbers of products sold or hours spent in development – there are thousands of areas where a number sounds better when it is larger. Sometimes it seems to you to be just an unimportant little stretch of the facts. Yes, we’ve seen gray areas.

Customer

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2013

I researched the pricing of the car at TrueCar – not because we’re an investor – but because it gives you complete price transparency over what other people in your area paid for a car. Your 2am coding session is more important than their 2am cocktails on the redeye back from Japan where they have no customers.

Conference

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

And because I wanted Ethan to be able to attract a great team, build & iterate a product, test it with initial customers and refine his strategy before having to take the wrappers off of his company. Because I knew that Ethan was on to a powerful idea and one in which he had developed huge competence and domain knowledge in.

CTO Coach

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 6, 2015

We intend to put out more research both on our geography but also on the markets we’re interested in investing in. We are a customer. To mark the occasion of launching this inaugural report I am also proud to announce that we’ve also launched the Upfront Insights blog. You were right, Alex , he is a superstar.

Marketing

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2020

Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. Conduct your own customized market research. Modern libraries are still worth a visit. Martin Zwilling.

Marketing

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 26, 2013

It makes it easier to persuade others to join you, it alerts other angels & VCs that you’re a company to be on their radar screen, it helps potential customers know that you may be worth doing business with and it builds you up to announce other milestones down the line. Should I Bundle it With More Juicy News?

Startup

socalTECH

DECEMBER 15, 2020

San Diego-based outsourced healthcare R&D marketplace Scientist.com said this morning that it will acquire HealthEcnomics.com , which operates an online community of scientists and suppliers of heatlh economics and outcomes research. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced.

Outsource

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

How do you get access to customers? how much research should you do before a sales visit? getting past the assistant. when to call. is it OK to call an exec on his mobile phone. how to handle intros. What is your sales process? call high or call low? how do you forecast? how do you do pipeline reviews? agile sales process?

Software Review

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 19, 2019

TechCrunch spoke to two customers who said the Mercedes-Benz’ connected car app was pulling in information from other accounts and not their own, allowing them to see other car owners’ names, recent activity, phone numbers, and more. The other customer said they did not attempt to test either feature.

Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Yet the average perception of customer experience has not improved. You have to start with hiring only people who are willing and able to make serious customer service happen.

Startup

socalTECH

DECEMBER 19, 2018

According to Teledyne, Roper's Scientific Imaging businesses provides range of imaging solutions, primarily for life sciences, academic research and customized OEM industrial imaging market, including cameras, spectrographs, and optics for advanced research in physical sciences, life sciences research and spectroscopy imaging (via Princeton Instruments (..)

Thousand Oaks

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 18, 2012

There is nothing wrong with researching an idea yourself, getting it started yourself, validating the idea yourself and then asking people to join you.” Winning customers is sales. I wasn’t attending enough sales meetings, I wasn’t looking customers in the eye and seeing their reaction. I started with three.

Entrepreneur

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

DDN said the deal will focus on providing infrastructure for Artificial Intelligence as a Service (AIaaS) for CSIR-CEERI customers. DataDirect Networks (DDN), which develops storage arrays for high performance computing and similar applications, says it is powering a provider of artificial-intelligence-as-a-service. READ MORE>>.

Artificial Inteligence

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 8, 2020

Risk level has always been directly correlated to the number of unknowns, so eliminating even one variable will improve your odds: Eliminate one aspect of research and development. According to a classic Harvard Research study, first inventors spend at least a third more on their initial technology than later innovators.

Startup